When a customer asks for your CDP score, sending back a letter only answers part of the question. You also need to understand what that result says about your reporting, where your response fell short, and what your team should address before the next submission.
A useful review starts with the overall score, then moves into the category breakdown and the requirements for advancing. That gives sustainability leads and executives a practical basis for deciding which improvements deserve time and budget.
Use the score to guide a submission supported by reliable data and documented action, keeping the original customer or investor request in view.
What a CDP score tells you
CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, operates an environmental disclosure system through which organizations report environmental information. Its scores help readers assess how companies disclose and manage environmental issues. For disclosers, the CDP questionnaire provides a structured way to explain environmental impact and support environmental transparency.
A reporting correction and an emissions reduction project involve different owners, costs, and timelines. Keep them separate when assigning responsibility and communicating with leadership.
How to read the CDP scoring bands
The full corporate framework evaluates four stages of maturity. Each band describes a different level of disclosure and demonstrated environmental management.
| Score | Level | What the band reflects |
| D or D- | Disclosure | Reporting completeness at the starting level |
| C or C- | Awareness | Understanding environmental issues and their relationship to the business |
| B or B- | Management | Evidence of processes and action to manage environmental issues |
| A or A- | Leadership | Best practice transparency and action under the methodology |
Use this progression to frame your review. At Disclosure, start by checking whether the required information is available and consistently reported. At Awareness, examine how you explain environmental risks and impacts. At Management, look for documented processes and implementation. At Leadership, assess your evidence against the applicable higher-level requirements.
An A score earns recognition on the corporate A List when the relevant eligibility requirements are satisfied. An A- is in the Leadership band but does not mean the company is on the A List. In 2026, the SME questionnaire can also receive an SME A score for climate change, which CDP distinguishes from a full corporate A.
What happened to the F score
Older explanations often describe F as a failure to disclose. CDP's 2026 guidance uses “Did not disclose” for requested companies that do not respond or provide insufficient information to be scored.
When reviewing an older result, retain its disclosure year. When explaining a current result to a customer, use the terminology displayed in the CDP Portal rather than translating it into an older grade.
How the CDP scoring methodology works
The scoring methodology sets out how questionnaire responses earn points. Disclosure and Awareness use percentages of available points; Management and Leadership use weighted calculations. Category results therefore contribute differently depending on the scoring level.
The practical implication is to review the requirements before drafting responses. Build a working checklist that connects each relevant question to its data owner, evidence, and scoring requirements. Read linked questions together so that dates, boundaries, targets, and descriptions remain consistent throughout your submission.
Why essential criteria need a separate review
Essential criteria are requirements that can prevent progression even when a response earns enough points elsewhere. For climate change, the 2026 full corporate framework applies criteria across Awareness, Management, Leadership, and A List eligibility. Forests and water security apply them at Leadership and A List levels.
Before targeting a higher band, identify which criteria apply to your sector and intended level. Mark each as met, requiring a reporting correction, requiring implementation, or requiring further review. This is a more useful planning exercise than assuming that every unanswered question has equal priority.
Which environmental issues receive scores
In 2026, the full questionnaire scores climate change, forests, and water security separately. Plastics, biodiversity, and the new ocean issue remain unscored. The SME questionnaire is scored for climate change only.
Review each applicable score on its own. If your business sources forest-risk commodities, include deforestation-related evidence in the relevant review. For water, involve the people responsible for site operations and water data. Keep a climate improvement plan focused on the climate requirements it is intended to address.
What is a good CDP score for your company
A good CDP score should be evaluated against your current reporting maturity and the expectations of the stakeholder requesting disclosure. Start by clarifying whether the customer wants a completed response, a particular score, or a documented plan for improvement.
Then choose a target your organization can support. Consider your baseline, the requirements for advancement, and the implementation time available. Avoid committing to a higher band before reviewing the evidence needed to reach it.
Compare the same environmental issue and questionnaire type when benchmarking. Present your target alongside the actions, owners, and resources it requires, without treating environmental responsibility as a letter alone.
How to turn your score report into an improvement plan
Once you have the report and submitted response, work through them together. Your review should produce specific tasks that the business can complete and substantiate.
1 Review the overall result and category breakdown
Download your results and preserve the final submitted questionnaire. CDP's category scores group related questions and do not necessarily match individual questionnaire modules.
For each priority category, trace the result back to the applicable questions. Record the requirement, what you reported, the evidence available, and the next action. Separate missing information from practices that have not yet been implemented. Assign one accountable owner to each action.
2 Check the carbon accounting foundation
For the climate response, reconcile your carbon footprint with the underlying inventory. Review scopes 1, 2, and 3, reporting boundaries, calculation methods, and any exclusions before revising individual answers.
Give scope 3 emissions their own workstream. Document how you assessed relevant categories, where estimates were used, and which data improvements are feasible. Preserve a record of changes so you can explain differences between reporting years rather than leaving reviewers to interpret unexplained movements in GHG emissions.
3 Connect climate risks to business decisions
Review whether your risk descriptions identify the affected operations, time horizons, potential consequences, and response. Ask finance and operations to check whether the narrative matches how the business actually evaluates climate risks.
If you report scenario analysis, retain the assumptions and outputs behind it. Explain how the analysis informed a decision or planning process when that occurred. Do not describe an assessment as completed if the work is still proposed.
4 Review targets and the climate transition plan
Check your science-based targets against the documented baseline, scope, timeframe, and current status. Clearly distinguish an internal target from one validated by SBTi, the Science Based Targets initiative.
Review the climate transition plan with the people responsible for delivering it. Identify the actions, approvals, investments, and progress measures supporting your disclosure. Make sure statements about planned work remain distinguishable from implemented work.
5 Plan third-party verification early
Third-party verification is part of the 2026 climate Leadership and A List essential criteria. The required coverage differs by level and emissions scope. Check the current criteria before commissioning the work.
Set the scope with the verifier, agree the evidence needed, and leave time to resolve findings. Reconcile the resulting assurance statement with the figures and coverage reported in your questionnaire.
6 Make supplier engagement specific
If supplier engagement is part of your climate program, document who you engage, what you request, and how you track responses. Ask procurement to help prioritize suppliers and maintain records of follow-up.
Collecting emissions data and asking suppliers to set targets require different evidence. Describe the activity conducted and retain supporting records.
7 Build the submission calendar around dependencies
Work backward from the applicable scoring deadline. Include milestones for inventory completion, risk review, verification, executive approval, and final checks in the Portal.
Set internal deadlines before the external date and make delays visible to the submission owner. Before filing, confirm that figures agree across responses and that claims are supported. CDP generally scores the response itself; external links and attachments are excluded unless the methodology explicitly permits them.
CDP disclosure cycle: 2026 dates to know
Preparing for a CDP score begins long before scoring actually occurs. The 2026 disclosure cycle features several milestones that shape scoring eligibility and timing:
- Week of April 20, 2026: Questionnaire and guidance published
- Week of April 27, 2026: Scoring methodology published and requesters can start submitting lists
- Week of June 15, 2026: 2026 response window opens
- September 16, 2026: Deadline for responses eligible for a CDP score
- October 28, 2026: Deadline to submit unscored responses and edits
- Week of November 30, 2026: 2026 scores available to disclosers and relevant stakeholders in the CDP portal; scores and A lists published on the CDP website
How CDP connects with other reporting frameworks
CDP's climate questionnaire aligns with IFRS S2, the climate disclosure standard from the ISSB, and reflects the TCFD pillars of governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets. CDP also publishes information on alignment with ESRS, the reporting standards associated with CSRD.
If you also prepare GRI reporting or other environmental reporting, build a reusable evidence set and map it to each output. Track the reporting period, organizational boundary, definitions, and required format. Reusing a source document should still involve checking that it answers the specific requirement.
Treat framework alignment as a way to organize work. A CDP score by itself does not establish that you have fulfilled every requirement of another reporting framework or an applicable law.
Put your CDP score to work
Your next step should be a focused plan for the customer request and the gaps your review identifies. Prioritize work you can complete, document, and explain before the next submission.
Greenplaces provides CDP support for climate, water, and forest disclosures, including evidence preparation, response drafting, submission, and scorecard analysis. If your team needs help coordinating the work, bring your customer request and latest response to a discussion about the next cycle.